Clark Gillies Likes the Rangers' Chances, Vigneault's Name Will Probably Not Be Mentioned Tonight and Other NHL News & Notes

Lloyd: What are the chances of a guy like you and a girl like me… ending up together? Mary: Well, that’s pretty difficult to say. Lloyd: Hit me with it! I’ve come a long way to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances? Mary: Not good. Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred? Mary: I’d say more like one out of a million. [pause] Lloyd: …So you’re telling me there’s a chance!

Apparently, Clark Gillies likes a longshot. Today, he told Newsday that a Ranger comeback is possible, less than 24 hours after the Rangers fell in an oh-three hole to the Penguins. Turns out that Gillies – who played on the 1975 Islanders team that came back from 0-3 to win four straight from Pittsburgh – isn’t alone:

The way Rangers coach Renney defiantly insisted that his team could win the series caused Gillies to recall the talk that Islanders coach Al Arbour gave his team after they had fallen behind, 0-3, to the Penguins. During a practice, Arbour gathered the team by the net. “He said, ‘If there’s anyone here who doesn’t think we can come back and win, why don’t you get your gear and get off the ice. I never want to see you again,’ ” Gillies recalled. Though no one left the ice, Gillies admits now he didn’t think it was possible at the time to make the comeback. “We all thought Al was crazy,” he said.

Speaking of crazy, did anybody happen to catch the Jaromir Jagr postgame interview last night? It was like watching Nicholson in The Shining – Jags ran the emotional gamut from depressed to cocky to introspective to devilish to optimistic in the span of three minutes. All work and no play makes Jaromir a dull boy.

If anybody can track down video (an entire morning of devoted YouTube scouring turned up nothing) email us at kurtenblog@yahoo.ca or post in the comments section below.

Update: Here’s part of the Jagr interview. Go to the 2:10 mark for the good stuff:

Wait, so he’s retiring? (Melodramatic Czech video)

Could be worse for Vigneault…he could be Ron Wilson: It’s becoming clear that when 1976 Jack Adams recipient Don Cherry announces this year’s nominees on HNIC tonight, reigning winner Alain Vigneault won’t be one of the names called. The likely nominees are Guy Carbonneau, Bruce Boudreau and Mike Babcock, with Carbonneau as the odds-on favourite to take home the trophy. The last Montreal coach to win the award? Pat Burns, who in 1988-89 won his first of three trophies, the only coach to have turned the hat trick.

But back to the Vigneault-Wilson dynamic for a sec. AV might not be in the best shape at the moment, but he still wouldn’t trade places with Ron Wilson. In another why-the-hell-is-this-video-not-available moment, we failed to find the awkward interaction between the Sharks coach and TSN talking head Jermain Franklin from Sunday night. For those who missed it, it went like this (courtesy Globe & Mail):

After the Sharks lost Game 2 to the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, falling behind 2-0 in the series, Franklin asked Wilson about team captain Patrick Marleau, who had been unproductive. “Do you need a little more out of your captain?” he asked. Wilson, clearly upset, said no, and then walked away, muttering, “It’s always freaking negative. That’s TSN, that’s Canada.”

True to form, celebrated media judge Cherry jumped in with his two bits on Coach’s Corner (go to the Apr. 28 video), defending Wilson’s reaction while chastising Franklin for his “stupid” question.

Franklin isn’t in the wrong here. Wilson knew his team (and, more specifically, his job) was on the verge of extinction – and while it wasn’t the most insightful question ever posed, it certainly wasn’t akin to throwing a match into a powderkeg. Wilson lost his cool, plain and simple.

It’s no coincidence that Cherry spoke out in Wilson’s defence prior to his big Jack Adams nominees announcement. He basically ran the risk of offending TSN (which William Houston claims he already has) just to stick up for his coaching brethren. The move was as see-through as a lace corset.

More: Vancouver fans won’t have much to choose from at the IIHF World Hockey Championships as only Canuck – Alex Edler, Sweden – will be participating…This compilation video of Pavel Datsyuk’s Top-10 goals is rather impressive…Just for the record, the NBA playoffs have been absolute garbage. So much for the “greatest regular season in league history” – none of the series are that compelling and the ones that are (Boston-Atlanta and Detroit-Philly) are more about the high seed’s lack of respect than the lower seed’s improved play.

Brough reacts to the Lakers-Nuggets series.(Thanks For Coming Out Images)

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